Check-row seed-planter.



L. H. BBLTZER.

CHECK ROW SEED PLAN'TER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY17,I911.

1,041,000. Patented 0015.151912.

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CQLuMulA PLANou PATENT ,OFFTCFL LEWIS H. BELTZER, OF HENNESSEY,OKLAHOMA.

CHECK-ROW SEED-PLANTER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEWIS H. BnL'rzER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Hennessey, in the county of Kingfisherl and State ofOklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Check-Row Seed-Planters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to seed planters and is designed more especiallyfor planting cotton seed, and my object is to produce a machine of thischaracter which will operate efiiciently and reliably.

`With this and other objects in view as hereinafter appear the inventionconsists in certain novel and peculiar' features of construction andorganization as hereinafter described and claimed, and in order that itmay be fully understood reference is to be had to the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure l, is an enlarged plan view of a part of themachine. Fig. 2 is a section on the line IVIV of Fig. l. Fig. 3, is avertical transverse section of a part of the machine and showing aportion of the seed box and hopper mechanism.

In the said drawing, 3ft-35 indicate part of the frame of a check rowplanter and 38 a base mounted thereon, for the support of one or moreseed boxes or hopper-s 39, provided with a distributing tube 53, anysuitable means, (not shown) being employed for effecting the dischargeof seed from the box or hopper, through the instrumentality of atransverse rock shaft 64 arranged rearward of bar 35, and j ournaled inbearings 65 rigid with said bar 35, and secured to and projectingupwardly from the ends of said shafts 64: are forked arms 66 throughwhich are adapted to extend alternately, that is as the machine travelsback and forth across the field, a check-row wire 67 of the usual type.

68 is a pair of outwardly bowed horizontal bars secured at their frontends to the opposite ends of plates 36 and about midway their length tobar 35 and secured to each of said bars 68 are grooved guide rollers 69and 70, the body portions of which are of upwardly tapering form for thepurpose of holding the check row wire hereinafter referred to, againstthe upper' flanges of said rollers, and secured to the rear extremitiesof the bars 68 are guide loops 71 Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led July 17,

Patented Oct. 15, 1912.

1911. seriai No. 639,034.

by which the check-row wire is adapted to be held in operative relationto one of the rollers 70 accordingly as the machine is traveling in onedirection or the other and to hold the check row wire reliably in en- 72is secured to each lever 68 to overlie the wire and tend to hold it downupon the antifriction roller 73 carried by said bar, the inner end ofsaid roller being journaled in a bracket 74- secured to said bar and therear end in a bracket 7 5 extending concentrically of the pivotal pointof the adjacent bracket 74 and provided with a longitudinal slot 76through which a clamping bolt 77 extends into the corresponding bar, thesaid roller 73 extending forwardly and inwardly so that when engaged bythe wire it may rotate and thus eliminate friction on the wire to alarge extent.

Pivoted to depending brackets 78 on bars 68 are forked arms 79 forengagement and operation by the enlargements 80 of the check row wire,in the progress of the machine, and said pivoted forks 79 are pivotallyconnected by links 8l with short crank arms 82 of the transverse rockshaft 83 journaled in bearings 84 projecting rearwardly from and carriedby bar 35. One of said crank arms engages the inner or forked end of aswinging arm 85 pivoted for horizontal movement at 86 to one of the bars68, and provided at its outer end with a pair of notches 87 forengagement with a pair of inwardly projecting teeth 88 of a lever 89piv- 'oted near its rear end at 90 upon said bar 68. At its front endthe lever 89 is connected by a retractile spring 91 to the bar 35 and atits opposite extremity lever 89 is provided with an upwardly projectingflange 92 bearing against the front end of a lever 93 pivoted on the bar68, the rear end of said lever lying within the plane of swingingInovement of the arm 66 of rock shaft 64.

94 are gates closing the lower ends of the seeddistributing tubes 53,and pivotally connected at their lower ends to said gates are pull rods95 which extend upwardly and are secured to the shaft 83 at the frontside of the same so that as said shaft is rotated rearwardly anddownwardly in the manner hereinafter explained the gates will be opened.The lower end of the seed tubes depend within the enlarged rear ends 96of the usual furrow openers or runners.

gagement with the front roller 69, a keepery Before starting tliemachine in operation the check row wire is'placed in operative relationto the guide 71, forks 66 and 79, guide rollers 69 and 70 and roller 7 3at the proper side of the machine, it being noted that at this time thecrank arms 82 of shaft 83 are vertical, the swinging arms 85 are alinedwith said shaft and the teeth of the lever 39 are not in engagement withthe teeth of said swinging arm. As the movement of the machine acrossthe field is effected, the rst projection or spur on the check row wirecomes into engagement with forks 79 and being incapable of passingthrough the same, rocks it from a vertical position to the ypositionshown in Figs. 1 and 2 and therefore through link 8l and crank arm 82,rocks shaft 83 rearwardly and eects the opening` of the gates 94, topermit seed standing in the bottom of the tubes 53 to drop upon theground. The operation of said crank shaft 83 effects rearward swingingmovement of the swing arm 85 until the notches thereof are alined withthe teeth of the lever S9 when said lever swings inward at the frontend, under theor hopper, fork 66 engages the rear end of` lever 93 andcauses the same to press inwardly upon the flange 92 of lever 89 andtherefore swing the front portion of said lever outward to withdraw itsteeth fromy engagement with notches 87 of the swinging frame .85. Asthis is effected the gate closes by gravitative action or otherwise androcks shaft 83 back to its original position and through the crank arms82 thereof returns the swinging arm to its original position. As thisoccurs the fork 66 is returned to its original position through theretractile action of a spring, not shown. This permits spring 91 toagain swing the front portion of the lever 89 inwardly and incidentallythrough lip 92, return the lever 93 to its original position.

For planting cotton seed in particular, which is light and woolly andtherefore slow in dropping, it is desirable to provide con siderabletime between the opening and closing of the gates and this I accomplishby rst opening the gates through the action of fork 79 and then lockingthe gate open through the lever 89, swing arm 85, and one of the crankarms 82, the action of the second fork viz. 66, eecting the practicallysimultaneous dropping of anothercharge of seed down into said tube andthe closing of the gates by the tripping of the trip lever 93. v

From the above description it will beapparent that I have produced acheck row seed planter embodying the features of advantage enumerated asdesirable and I wish it to be understood that while I have illustratedand described the preferred embodiment of the invention I do not desireto be restricted to the exact details of construction shown anddescribed as obvious modifications will suggest themselves to oneskilled in the art.

I claim:

l. In a check row seed planter, a shaft, means actuated by a check rowwire to rock said shaft, means to secure the shaft in the position towhich it has been rocked, and means actuated by the check'row wire totrip the securing means.

2. In a check row seedplanter, a shaft, means actuated by a check rowwire to rock said shaft, means to secure the shaft in the position towhich it has been rocked, means actuated by the check row wire to tripthe securing means, and means to return the rock shaft to its originalposition.

3. In a check row seed planter, a shaft, means actuated by a check rowwire to rock said shaft, means to secure the shaft in the position towhich it has been rocked, a second shaft, a forkedarm rigid with thesecond shaft and adapted to be caused by the check row wire to rock saidsecond shaft to trip said securing means, and independent means to rocksaid shafts back to their original positions.

t. In a check row seed planter, a seed box provided with a seed droppingtube, a gate controlling said tube, a rock shaft connected to said gate,means actuated by a check row wire to rock said shaft to open said gate,means to secure the rock shaft in its new position, means actuated by acheck row wire to trip said securing means, and means to reverse theoperation of the rock shaft to effect the closing of the gate.

5. In a check row seed planter, a seed box having a seed discharge, aseed tube to receive seed from said seed discharge, a gate controllingthe seed tube, a rock shaft, a second rock shaft connected to open saidgate, a forked arm connected to the said second rock shaft and adaptedto be operated by the check row wire to open the gate, means to securethe said second rock shaft in the position to which it is adjusted bysaid forked arm, a forked arin carried by the rst-named rock shaft andadapted to be moved by the checkrow wire to rock said rock shaft, meansactuated by the last-named forked arm to trip the said securing means,and means to return the first named rock shaft and its connections totheir original positions.

6. In a check row seed planter, a rock shaft having a crank arm, aswinging arm engaging and movable with the same, a pivoted fork linkedto said crank arm and adapted to be operated by the check row wire torock said arm and said swinging arm, a lever, means to cause the leverto interlock with the swinging arm after the latter is adjusted by themovement of said rock arm to hold the latter in its new position, meansactuated by the check row wire to trip said lever from engagement withthe said swinging arm, and means to return the rock arm, the swingingarm and the forked arm to their original positions Vafter the trippingaction occurs.

7. In a check row seed planter', a rock shaft having a crank arm, aswinging arm engaging and movable with the same, a pivoted fork linkedto said crank arm and adapted to be operated by the check row wire torock said arm and said swinging arm, a lever, means to cause the leverto interlock wit-h the swinging arm after the latter is adjusted by themovement of said rock arm to hold the latter in its new position, asecond lever engaging the first-named lever, a second fork adapted to bemoved by the check row wire and cause to aetuate the second lever totrip the first-named lever from engagement with the swinging arm, andmeans to return the said rook arm, the swinging arm and first named forkback to their original positions after the tripping action occurs.

S. In a check row seed planter, suitably supported check row wireguides, a rock shaft having a crank arm, a swinging arm movable back andforth with said crank arm, means actuated by the check row wire foroperating said crank arm to cause it to rock said shaft and move saidswinging arm, means to secure the swinging arm in the position to whichit has been moved, means actuated by the check row Wire to release theswinging arm, and means to rock said shaft back to its originalposition.

In testimony whereof I aix my signature, in the presence of twowitnesses.

LEWIS II. BELTZER.

Vitnesses:

C. J. TEQUE, JOHN SMITH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). C.

